June 22, 2003 @ 2:59 pm

Thievery Corporation - The Richest Man In Babylon (ESL Music)

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Eighteenth Street Lounge is not just the name of Thievery Corporation’s club and record label.

Eighteenth Street Lounge is not just the name of Thievery Corporation’s club and record label. It’s a state of mind, like the candlelit bar that the producer-DJ duo co-owns in Washington, D.C. There, it’s always 1958: The exotic strains of Les Baxter’s Caribbean Moonlight waft from the speakers, the house band wears sharkskin suits, and drinks come spiked with colorful paper umbrellas. This lounge sensibility extends to the duo’s releases. Last year’s compilation Sounds From the Verve Hi-Fi salvaged cocktail-jazz relics by the likes of Astrud Gilberto and Sergio Mendes. And on their third full-length album, Eric Hilton and Rob Garza revive even more sounds long ago declared unfashionable: sitar-tinged bachelor-pad tunes from the ’60s (“Facing East”) and smoky Parisian torch songs (“Un Simple Histoire”). Even when they dip into lightweight reggae territory on the title track, the results hang together surprisingly well. In their world of high hepcat camp, Thievery Corporation can steal your ears and hold them hostage.

Article tags: ThieveryCorporationRichestManBabylonESLMusic 

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